Should I or Shouldn't I?

[XPTB]

Coming from an 03 Cobra with just an upper pulley, should I get a new 5.0? I love the looks, and love the interior... but It didn't pull near as hard as the cobra when I test drove it. I did not drive a 3.73 gear one though. My cobra puts down some crap numbers (mail order tune), 415/450. I'm readying the new ones dyno something like 380/360. Do the simple bolt on/tune mods make it bump 400?

That said I did go ahead and order one. The dealer said I didn't have to buy it when it comes in. I feel like the cobra is more of a unicorn than a regular GT, but that SN95 interior is such garbage. I don't drag race, just autocross and some HPDE for fun. I'm thinking the 15 will be much better for that type of racing anyway.

Also the cobra is a convertible and I ordered a hard top. Convertible just has too much flex.

 

[Dcrypter]

You kind of seem like you answered your own question. The short answer is yes.

Will bolt ons and a tune put you above 400? Easily. Intake, exhaust, and tune and you've picked up another 50~ horses. Bama alleges 30 hp from just a tune which alone gets the 400 you wanted. I personally wouldn't go with Bama, I'd rather go with Lund or Brenspeed, but they're an option like anything else.

Will the s550 be better for autocross and HPDE? Absolutely, these s550 handle wonderfully and with a few minor mods they drive like they're on rails.

Did you drive a premium or base? Without drive modes or turning off all traction and stability control it won't pull hard at all until thirdish. It will take off like a rocket when the nanny gives up though. The premium seems to be often ignored but the drive modes alone make it worth it. Driving with 1/32 tread in the rain and floods that houston just had i never once lost traction in rain mode. That alone makes it worth it for me because of the peace of mind when i swap the dr's on it.

 

[XPTB]

You kind of seem like you answered your own question. The short answer is yes.

Will bolt ons and a tune put you above 400? Easily. Intake, exhaust, and tune and you've picked up another 50~ horses. Bama alleges 30 hp from just a tune which alone gets the 400 you wanted. I personally wouldn't go with Bama, I'd rather go with Lund or Brenspeed, but they're an option like anything else.

Will the s550 be better for autocross and HPDE? Absolutely, these s550 handle wonderfully and with a few minor mods they drive like they're on rails.

Did you drive a premium or base? Without drive modes or turning off all traction and stability control it won't pull hard at all until thirdish. It will take off like a rocket when the nanny gives up though. The premium seems to be often ignored but the drive modes alone make it worth it. Driving with 1/32 tread in the rain and floods that houston just had i never once lost traction in rain mode. That alone makes it worth it for me because of the peace of mind when i swap the dr's on it.

I did drive a premium. First thing I did was play with all the fun features. I put it in track mode before I pulled out of the lot. I raced a 15 in my cobra from 80-130 and it was dead even. But the cobra pulls a lot harder before 80, which is probably why I'm missing that pull.... that and the extra 100 TQ the cobra made.

 

[Dcrypter]

I did drive a premium. First thing I did was play with all the fun features. I put it in track mode before I pulled out of the lot. I raced a 15 in my cobra from 80-130 and it was dead even. But the cobra pulls a lot harder before 80, which is probably why I'm missing that pull.... that and the extra 100 TQ the cobra made.

There isn't much you can do about the missing 100 torque but put a TVS on there(or whatever flavor FI you want) but the 0-80 "lag" is mostly Ford's TQ management in my understanding. Ford(and Roush in my case) is trying to save the IRS and so the TQ management is pretty heavy. With some slicks and TQ management gone(well it's never "gone" but set to the point where it will never be activated) you'll snap a half shaft in couple hard launches.

You can watch Bama do it on their fourth launch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IPo-spiMWA

 

[5.0jake]

The 15' is better in every way except in the torque dept. Once the honeymoon period with the 15' ends you're going to miss the torque/pull from the cobra...

If you do get the 15', make sure you at least get the 3.55 gears as the 3.31's further accentuate the low end sluggishness... 3.31's would be fine if you decide too go FI.

The base non PP suspension is decent but the 18' all seasons are horrible and ruin it, imo.
The 3.73's in the PP GT are a bit much but the rest of the package is an amazing bargain.

If I were to do again it would be the base GT PP or premium auto with the 3.55 gear and 19' or 20' wheel with summer tire options.

 

[choate]

Even with a supercharger I don't think these new 5.0 motors make much more than 450tq but man do they make power all day long above 4500. I rode in a Terminator for the very first time about a month ago and I was just like Wow holy sh!t this thing has major balls! He had a pully and off road mid pipes with magna packs and that was it but the sound was intoxicating too. I fell in love and have to have one at some point but I have a big delimma, I don't want to get rid of my car lol. That's beside the point, but the new 15s are so much "nicer" than the older ones. When I got into his car I was thinking wow this is as plain as it gets. I had an 01 GT and didn't remember it being so terribly plain. I haven't driven a 15 yet but I've heard nothing but good things. It's a tough choice I'm sure but for auto-x I'm sure it would be great and just simply good looking nice cars. Sorry, that probably just makes your choice harder

 

[XPTB]

Even with a supercharger I don't think these new 5.0 motors make much more than 450tq but man do they make power all day long above 4500. I rode in a Terminator for the very first time about a month ago and I was just like Wow holy sh!t this thing has major balls! He had a pully and off road mid pipes with magna packs and that was it but the sound was intoxicating too. I fell in love and have to have one at some point but I have a big delimma, I don't want to get rid of my car lol. That's beside the point, but the new 15s are so much "nicer" than the older ones. When I got into his car I was thinking wow this is as plain as it gets. I had an 01 GT and didn't remember it being so terribly plain. I haven't driven a 15 yet but I've heard nothing but good things. It's a tough choice I'm sure but for auto-x I'm sure it would be great and just simply good looking nice cars. Sorry, that probably just makes your choice harder

Ha, yeah. If I just want raw power, cobra all day I think. But I really like all the other stuff. I can't enjoy all that power all the time, but I can enjoy comfy, technical gadgets more. That said, I think I can sacrifice the power that i use 10% of the time for the toys I would use 90% of the time. FYI this won't be my daily driver.

 

[usaf_branham]

I sold my cherry '04 GT that was full bolt on and kenne belled with mhs blower cams (425 rwhp) in order to buy my '15

If I had an '03 / '04 cobra, I wouldn't have sold it.

Yes, the '15 is fifty times the car in terms of niceties and interior comfort... Which is part of what sold me... But the '15 also has a coyote motor with sinter forged rods and is up to the task of me slapping a stage 2 procharger on it and running in the 10's without worrying about blowing my motor...

You likely may regret the switch.

 

[usaf_branham]

I didn't want to spend 20k to make 600 rwhp. It was smarter to take the 20k difference and get a new one.

 

[SID297]

The two cars feel so different, it really depends on what you want. I'm really getting into the mod to build a Terminator.